Useless
by Whatdoyoumeanimnotawizard
Summary: Nico di Angelo was eight when his mother died. His older sister, Bianca, was Twelve. Shortly after Maria's death, Hades put both Bianca and Nico into an Orphanage. The orphanage was Wool's Orphanage, and there Nico met Tom Riddle. A short HP/PJO crossover going into a bit more depth about Nico di Angelo's childhood and the reason Tom Riddle thinks friendship is useless.


A/N This is isn't very well written, and it's based off a headcanon of mine. I've just always been sorta fascinated with the character Tom Riddle, and always wished that the HP novels went into more depth about his childhood, and the same for Nico di Angelo.

A/N The other version of was riddled with bad grammar, and since editing stories on is such a hassle, I just edited the document and added a new chapter. I will probably go delete chapter one. I apologize if there is a review of yours I deleted because of it. This version is the one that I revised, since the other one was written when I was rather tired. Also, to those who asked I do not plan on continuing this story; it is a one-shot, but you are free to write using the idea, as other people have written about, and the idea of Tom Riddle being at the orphanage with Nico is one others have used.

Nico di Angelo was eight when his mother died. His older sister, Bianca, was Twelve. Shortly after Maria's death, Hades put both Bianca and Nico into an Orphanage. He knew Nico and Bianca were in danger from the war, but he refused to admit it was serious. Just put them in an orphanage in London, he thought, they'll be safe enough. This orphanage was Wool's Orphanage, and there Nico met Tom Riddle.

oooooooooo

Nico wasn't a very pleasant boy. But if you were raised by Hades your entire life, I don't think you would be all sunshine-and-rainbows either. Much like a certain future dark-lord, he often acted much nicer around adults or his sister. This is probably one of the reasons Nico and Tom got along so well. Of course, much of it was simply fate, such as the fact that Hades had put his children into this paticular orphanage, or that Nico and Tom happened to be roommates. But whether it be fate or coincidence or whatever you believe in, Nico and Tom whether were the best of friends.

"Tom dear, this is your new roommate. Nico, this is Tom. I'm sure you two will get along wonderfully." Martha, a young woman of around 19 who worked at the orphanage, shot Tom a pointed glance as she gently shoved a boy of around eight years old into the room and shut the door behind her.

"He seems like a very nice boy," she muttered to , who was standing outside in the hallway, trying to break apart two arguing children, "I do hope that Tom will be decent to him, and not do whatever he's done to the other children to make them scared to go within 10 yards of him." nodded in agreement as she tried to convince Amy Benson and Dennis Bishop that a piece of chocolate was not worth starting a war over.

Neither of the woman knew just what Tom had done to make the other children so frightened of him, but he must have done something. Even if he was always such a polite and pleasant boy when they talked to him...

Tom glanced up at the boy, waiting to see what pathetic person he had to share a room with, already scheming plans to get the message across to the boy that he was NOT a person that should be crossed with, when he stopped.

The boy in front of him was around his age, and in fact looked quite similar to him, except for the fact that other boy, Nico, Tom remembered Martha calling him, had more Italian features.

But what really stood out was the power surrounding the boy, the type of power he always felt surrounding himself. Magic, he realized. Tom, when he was very young, had realized he had magic, which he knew it much be, for he had read the battered old encyclopedias that the orphanage owned, and his powers defied every scientific law there was. By the time Tom was four, he had at least basic control over his powers, and he had only improved since then.

Nico, who was looking at Tom the same way Tom had been looking at him, sizing him up, Tom realized, shrugged and put out his hand.

A very rare grin crept onto Tom's face. Perhaps, he thought, this boy would be worth befriending after all.

Tom accepted the handshake. "Hello," he said, "I'm Tom Riddle. It's a pleasure to meet you."

oooooooooo

The two boys were almost instantly best friends(of course, they were each other's only friend, so naturally they were their best). They were inseparable doing everything together. The orphange had come to fear Nico a bit, but not nearly as much as Tom. Tom bullied just for the sake of bullying. Nico usually only hurt you if you hurt him or Tom.

No, the real reason for the orphanage fearing Nico wasn't about being bullied. Not really. It was more about the dark and foreboding aura that surrounding him, or the way the shadows seemed to cling to him as he walked.

The other children rumored that grass shriveled and died as he walked on it. This, of course, was a difficult claim to prove, considering the fact that Wool's Orphanage was in a rather dumpy section of London that had hardly any grass, alive or otherwise. But still, there were rumors.

oooooooooo

Nico and Tom were misaken for each other to the point where it was almost comical.

Eric Whalley would get out of way in the hallway, thinking it was Nico, to realize in terror that it was actually Tom, and hope with all their heart he was in a good mood today.

Billy Stubbs would run away screaming in terror, but soon realizes that it was Nico, not Tom. Of course, he still ran away with terror, but he did so less frantically.

oooooooooo

"Watch", Tom whispered to Nico as he flicked his hand and levitated two cookies off the plate and towards them. Nico and Tom were hiding near the doorway of he kitchen, and Tom was showing off his cookie-snatching powers to Nico.

Nico's face screwed up in concentration as he attempted to do the same feat, but alas, the cookies didn't move an inch. He growled, frustrated, and a black hand formed out of the shadows of the room, went over to the cookies, snatched four cookies, and brought them to Nico.

Tom watched with his eyes wide, impressed. "Or you could just do it that way.", Tom muttered under his breath.

ooooooooooo

Neither of the boys really believed in celebrating birthdays; they both agreed it was rather trivial and pointless. Besides, they were dirt poor and probably couldn't afford to get gifts every year anyway.

But on Tom's 9th birthday, Nico went down to the local bookstore, Parlington's Pages, and got a plain, black, leather-bound diary to give to Tom as a joke.

On December 31st, Tom's birthday, Nico handed Tom his "birthday present" with a smirk and a joking comment: "You can sit down and pour your soul into it.".

And 8 years later, Tom did just that.

ooooooooooo

But then the Blitz happened. For 57 days, London was bombed by German forces. None hit Wool's orphange, but some came dangerously close. Hades could no longer deny it; Nico and Bianca's lives were in danger. There was only one thing he could do.

ooooooooooo

When Alecto came and took Nico and Bianca to the Lotus Casino, about a year after they had arrived at the orphange, it was early in the morning, when Tom was asleep. Alecto took them away so quickly, Nico had barely any time to pack much less say goodbye.

In fact, he left something behind, something he dropped as he walked out of the room.

It was a photograph. The photo was rather blurry, as most pictures were at the time, but it was clearly of the Di Angelo family. There were four people in the picture; a man, a woman, a girl, and a young boy.

The boy, who was Nico, looked irritated and uncomfortable, and it seemed as if he was glaring at the photographer, which he probably was, considering how much he hated having his photo taken. He seemed to be about six in the photo, and short as well, so the man standing behind him towered over him.

The woman in the photo was beautiful, but she looked tired, worried, a few wrinkles worn into her face from stress.

The girl, who you probably know by now was Bianca, was pretty, even though her features were a bit boyish. She wasn't old enough to be beautiful, but you could tell she would be when she was older. Her silky black hair hung in two short braids, and like the rest of the people in the picture, she wasn't smiling.

Of course, it would have been impossible to tell if the man was smiling, becuase his face was ripped from the photograph, a tear in the paper. The top right corner of the picture was missing. The only thing you could see of the man, Hades, was that he was tall and wearing an expensive suit.

When Tom found out Nico had left, he had been filled with rage. He went and hung Billy Stubb's rabbit to channel his anger. It didn't help.

Later that day, Tom went to Nico's room, wishing against all odds, that maybe, just maybe, Nico would be there, sitting in his bed, ready to talk to him about whatever odd thing had bubbled to the surface of their minds.

But as you can probably guess, the room was empty, save for a small photograph lying on the floor.

Tom spotted this and walked over, picking it up. And as he saw who it was, a single tear fell down his cheek, falling on the photo; the only time Tom Riddle ever cried.

He quickly wiped away his tears, and sneered to see Bianca in the photograph. Tom had never cared for the girl. She was annoying and naive, and Tom didn't have time for he likes of her. Besides, she never approved of Tom and Nico's friendship, seeming to be the only person who could see through Tom's charming facade.

Another reason he despised her so much was simply he fact of how much attention Nico paid to her. Nico never could spend enough time with him, in Tom's opinion, because he spent so much if it with his sister. Tom would have gotten rid of her long ago if not for the fact that he knew how much Nico cared for her.

But still, when Tom was packing the few things he possessed to go to Hogwarts for the first time, he remembered to put a certain photograph of four people in his bag.

ooooooooooooo

Tom spent many nights, hoping, wishing, that maybe Nico would come back, but his whishes were never granted. And he would never admit it, but deep down he knew he had had a crush on Nico, which rubbed salt in the wound even more.

Two years later, when Dumbledore had taken him away to Hogwarts, he was excited. He knew Nico was magical, so naturally he was sure to be at this school, right? But when he arrived at Hogwarts, he was bitterally disappointed to find that Nico's presence was as absent as any records of a magical father.

Friends, he thought bitterly, are useless, for they all leave you in the end.


End file.
